Tillers utilize a tine rotor comprising tines that till soil when the tine rotor rotates. In prior art tillers, when the tine rotor needs to be removed for replacement or maintenance, the user must generally remove the gears and side of the tiller in order to free the tine rotor. This operation is necessarily labor and time intensive.
The tiller according to the present disclosure has a tine rotor that is removable from the tiller with minimal disassembly of the tiller. The tiller comprises a frame with a top side and plates extending downwardly at the ends of the top side. The top side and the plates form a cavity within which the tine rotor is disposed.
A series of gears on the gear end of the tiller translates rotational motion from the tractor to the tine rotor. The tine rotor comprises end discs on each end, and the end discs releasably connect to rotating spindles extending within the cavity from the end plates.
In order to remove the tine rotor from the tiller, a user removes fasteners that connect the end discs to the rotating spindles and removes the tine rotor by pulling it straight out from the tiller. The user does not have to remove the gears or the gear end of the tiller in order to remove the tine rotor.
For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein.